Source : Gowans

Source Title The Catalogues of William Gowans
Description William Gowans began as a New York book dealer around 1830 and continued until his death in 1870. Beginning about 1842 he began to issue catalogues once a year. They were at first relatively brief and simple but in time became more bibliographically complex and useful to the antiquarian. His best cataloguing efforts date from the mid 1850's and specifically from No. 14 on. A story about him can be found by searching GOWANS in the AE archives. This story appears in the July, 2004 issue of AE Monthly.
Scope of Text There are in total 28 catalogues and they each contain from 200 to 500 items in formats of 40 and 52 pages. While Mr. Gowans cannot be easily compared to 20th century dealers, by the standards of the day, he was a formidable bookseller.
Total Records in AED 309
  • Heritage, Nov. 18: Orson Welles. Signed Third Revised Final Draft for Citizen Kane (RKO, 1941). July 16, 1940.
    Heritage, Nov. 18: Bob Dylan. Autograph manuscript working lyrics to "Man on the Street."
    Heritage, Nov. 18: Ernest Hemingway. Death in the Afternoon. Inscribed by the author to the daughter of the Spanish Ambassador.
    Heritage, Nov. 18: Jack London. The Call of the Wild. Inscribed by the author.
    Heritage, Nov. 18: John Steinbeck. East of Eden. Inscribed by 27 members of the movie cast and crew, including James Dean and Elia Kazan.